| Russian Federation Российская Федерация
Rossiyskaya Federatsiya |
| |
Anthem: Государственный гимн Российской Федерации
(tr.: Gosudarstvenny gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii)
(English: State Anthem of the Russian Federation) |
| |
Capital
(and largest city) | Moscow
 55°45′N 37°37′E / 55.75°N 37.617°E / 55.75; 37.617 |
| Official language(s) | Russian official throughout the country; 27 others co-official in various regions |
| Ethnic groups (2010) | 81% Russians
3.7% Tatars
1.4% Ukrainians
1.1% Bashkirs
1% Chuvashes
11.8% Others and Unspecified[1] |
| Demonym | Russian |
| Government | Federal semi-presidential republic |
| - | President | Dmitry Medvedev |
| - | Prime Minister | Vladimir Putin |
| - | Chairman of the Federation Council | Valentina Matviyenko (UR) |
| - | Chairman of the State Duma | Sergey Naryshkin (UR) |
| Legislature | Federal Assembly |
| - | Upper house | Federation Council |
| - | Lower house | State Duma |
| Formation |
| - | Rurik Dynasty | 862 |
| - | Kievan Rus' | 882 |
| - | Vladimir-Suzdal Rus' | 1169 |
| - | Grand Duchy of Moscow | 1283 |
| - | Tsardom of Russia | 16 January 1547 |
| - | Russian Empire | 22 October 1721 |
| - | Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic | 7 November 1917 |
| - | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics | 10 December 1922 |
| - | Russian Federation | 25 December 1991 |
| Area |
| - | Total | 17,075,400 km2 (1st)
6,592,800 sq mi |
| - | Water (%) | 13[2] (including swamps) |
| Population |
| - | 2012 estimate | 143,030,106[3] (8th) |
| - | Density | 8.3/km2 (217th)
21.5/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate |
| - | Total | $2.376 trillion[4] (6th) |
| - | Per capita | $16,687[4] |
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate |
| - | Total | $1.884 trillion[4] (9th) |
| - | Per capita | $13,235[4] |
| Gini (2008) | 42.3[5] (83rd) |
| HDI (2011) |  0.755[6] (high) (66th) |
| Currency | Ruble (RUB) |
| Time zone | (UTC+3 to +12 (exc. +5)) |
| Date formats | dd.mm.yyyy |
| Drives on the | right |
| ISO 3166 code | RU |
| Internet TLD | .ru, .su, .рф |
| Calling code | +7 |
Russia 
i/ˈrʌʃə/ or
/ˈrʊʃə/ (
Russian:
Россия,
tr. Rossiya;
IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] (
listen)), officially known as both
Russia and the
Russian Federation[7] (
Russian:
Российская Федерация,
tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya;
IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern
Eurasia.
[8] It is a
federal semi-presidentialrepublic, comprising 83
federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia
shares borders with
Norway,
Finland,
Estonia,
Latvia,
Lithuania and
Poland (both via
Kaliningrad Oblast),
Belarus,
Ukraine,
Georgia,
Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan,
China,
Mongolia, and
North Korea. It also has
maritime borders with
Japan by the
Sea of Okhotsk, and the
United States by the
Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the
largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the
Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth
most populous nation with 143 million people.
[9] It extends across the whole of northern
Asia and 40% of
Europe, spanning
nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources
[10] and is the largest
oil producer[11] and second largest
natural gas producer[12] globally. Russia has the world's largest
forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's
fresh water.
[13]
The nation's history began with that of the
East Slavs, who emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD.
[14] Founded and ruled by a
Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the
medieval state of
Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted
Orthodox Christianity from the
Byzantine Empire,
[15] beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined
Russian culturenext millennium.
[15] Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the
Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic
Golden Horde.
[16] The
Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde, and came to dominate the cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus'. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and
exploration to become the
Russian Empire, which was the third
largest empire in history, stretching from Poland in Europe to
Alaska in North America.
[17][18] for the
Following the
Russian Revolution, Russia became the largest and leading constituent of the
Soviet Union, the world's first constitutionally
socialist state and a recognized
superpower,
[19] which played a decisive role in the
Allied victory in
World War II.
[20][21] The Soviet era saw some of the
most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's
first human spaceflight. The Russian Federation was founded following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, but is recognized as the continuing legal personality of the Soviet state.
[22]
Russia has the world's
11th largest economy by
nominal GDP or the
6th largest by
purchasing power parity, with the
5th largest nominal military budget. It is one of the five
recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the
largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
[23] Russia is a
great power and a permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council, a member of the
G8,
G20, the
Council of Europe, the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the
Eurasian Economic Community, the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the
World Trade Organisation (WTO), and is the leading member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
Etymology
Main articles:
Rus people and
Rus (name)The name
Russia is derived from
Rus, a medieval state populated mostly by the
East Slavs. However, this proper name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants "Русская Земля" (russkaya zemlya) which could be translated as "Russian Land" or "Land of
Rus'". In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as
Kievan Rus' by modern historiography. The
name Rus' itself comes from
Rus people, a group of
Varangians (possibly
Swedish Vikings)
[24][25] who founded the state of
Rus (Русь).
An old Latin version of the name Rus' was
Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus' that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия (Rossiya), comes from the Greek version of Rus', nowadays spelled Ρωσία [rosˈia] instead of Ρωσσία, which was the denomination of Kievan Rus in the
Byzantine Empire.
[26]
History
Early periods
One of the first
modern human bones of the age of 35 000 years was found in Russia, in
Kostenki on the
Don River banks.
[citation needed] The only remains of the
Denisova hominin that lived about 41,000 years ago were discovered in
Denisova Cave (South
Siberia).
[citation needed]
In prehistoric times the vast steppes of Southern Russia were home to tribes of
nomadic pastoralists.
[27]Ipatovo,
[27] Sintashta,
[28]Arkaim,
[29] and
Pazyryk,
[30] which bear the earliest known traces of
mounted warfare, a key feature in nomadic way of life. Remnants of these steppe civilizations were discovered in such places as
In
classical antiquity, the
Pontic Steppe was known as
Scythia. Since the 8th century BC,
Ancient GreekTanais and
Phanagoria.
[31] In 3rd – 4th centuries AD a semi-legendary Gothic kingdom of
Oium existed in Southern Russia till it was overrun by
Huns. Between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, the
Bosporan Kingdom, a Hellenistic polity which succeeded the Greek colonies,
[32] was also overwhelmed by nomadic invasions led by warlike tribes, such as the
Huns and
Eurasian Avars.
[33] A
Turkic people, the
Khazars, ruled the lower
Volga basin steppes between the
CaspianBlack Seas until the 8th century.
[34] traders brought their civilization to the trade emporiums in and
The ancestors of modern
Russians are the
Slavic tribes, whose original home is thought by some scholars to have been the wooded areas of the
Pinsk Marshes.
[35] The
East Slavs gradually settled Western Russia in two waves: one moving from
Kiev toward present-day
Suzdal and
Murom and another from
Polotsk toward
Novgorod and
Rostov. From the 7th century onwards, the East Slavs constituted the bulk of the population in Western Russia
[36] and slowly but peacefully assimilated the native
Finno-Ugric peoples, including the
Merya, the
Muromians, and the
Meshchera.
Kievan Rus
The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with the arrival of
Varangians, the traders, warriors and settlers from the Baltic Sea region. Primarily they were
Vikings of
Scandinavianto the Black and Caspian[37] According to the
Primary Chronicle, a Varangian from
Rus' people, named
Rurik, was elected ruler of
Novgorod in 862. In 882 his successor
Oleg, ventured south and conquered
Kiev,
[38] which had been previously paying tribute to the
Khazars; so the state of
Kievan Rus' started. Oleg, Rurik's son
Igor and Igor's son
Sviatoslav subsequently subdued all local
East Slavic tribes to Kievan rule, destroyed the
Khazar khaganate and launched several military expeditions to
Byzantium and
Persia. origin, who ventured along the waterways extending from the eastern Baltic Seas.
In the 10th to 11th centuries Kievan Rus' became one of the largest and most prosperous states in Europe.
[39]Vladimir the Great (980–1015) and his son
Yaroslav I the Wise (1019–1054) constitute the
Golden Age of Kiev, which saw
the acceptance of Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium and the creation of the first East Slavic written
legal code, the
Russkaya Pravda. The reigns of
In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as the
Kipchaks and the
Pechenegs, caused a massive migration of Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, particularly to the area known as
Zalesye.
[40]
The age of
feudalism and decentralization had come, marked by constant in-fighting between members of the
Rurik Dynasty that ruled Kievan Rus' collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of
Vladimir-SuzdalNovgorod Republic in the north-west and
Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west. in the north-east,
Ultimately Kievan Rus' disintegrated, with the final blow being the
Mongol invasion of 1237–40,
[41] that resulted in the destruction of Kiev
[42] and the death of about half the population of Rus'.
[43] The invaders, later known as
Tatars, formed the state of the
Golden Horde, which pillaged the Russian principalities and ruled the southern and central expanses of Russia for over three centuries.
[44]
Galicia-Volhynia was eventually assimilated by the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while the Mongol-dominated Vladimir-Suzdal and Novgorod Republic, two regions on the periphery of Kiev, established the basis for the modern Russian nation.
[15] The Novgorod together with
Pskov retained some degree of autonomy during the time of the
Mongol yoke and were largely spared the atrocities that affected the rest of the country. Led by Prince
Alexander Nevsky, Novgorodians repelled the invading Swedes in the
Battle of the Neva in 1240, as well as the
Germanic crusaders in the
Battle of the Ice in 1242, breaking their attempts to colonize the Northern Rus'.
Grand Duchy of Moscow
The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was the
Grand Duchy of Moscow ("Moscovy" in the Western chronicles), initially a part of
Vladimir-Suzdal. While still under the domain of the Mongol-Tatars and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the Central Rus' in the early 14th century, gradually becoming the main leading force in the process of the Rus' lands' reunification and expansion of Russia.
Those were hard times, with frequent
Mongol-Tatar raids and agriculture suffering from the beginning of the
Little Ice Age. Like in the rest of Europe, plagues hit Russia somewhere once every five or six years from 1350 to 1490. However, due to the lower population density and better hygiene (widespread practicing of
banya, the wet steam bath),
[45] the population loss caused by plagues was not so severe as in the Western Europe, and the pre-Plague populations were reached in Russia as early as 1500.
[46]
Led by Prince
Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow and helped by the
Russian Orthodox Church, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted a milestone defeat on the Mongol-Tatars in the
Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. Moscow gradually absorbed the surrounding principalities, including the formerly strong rivals, such as
TverNovgorod. and
Ivan III (
the Great) finally threw off the control of the Golden Horde, consolidated the whole of Central and Northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first to take the title "Grand Duke of all the Russias".
[47] After the
fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow
claimed succession to the legacy of the
Eastern Roman Empire. Ivan III married
Sophia Palaiologina, the niece of the last
Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, and made the Byzantine
double-headed eagle his own, and eventually Russian, coat-of-arms.
Tsardom of Russia
In development of the
Third Rome ideas, the Grand Duke
Ivan IV (the "Awesome"
[48] or "the Terrible") was officially crowned the first
Tsar ("
Caesar") of Russia in 1547. The Tsar promulgated a new code of laws (
Sudebnik of 1550), established the first Russian feudal representative body (
Zemsky Sobor) and introduced local self-management into the rural regions.
[49][50]
During his long reign, Ivan IV nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates (parts of disintegrated
Golden Horde):
Kazan and
Astrakhan along the Volga River, and
Sibirean Khanate in South Western Siberia. Thus by the end of the 16th century Russia was transformed into a
multiethnic, multiconfessional and
transcontinental state.
However, the Tsardom was weakened by the long and unsuccessful
Livonian War against the coalition of Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden for access to the Baltic coast and sea trade.
[51] At the same time the Tatars of the
Crimean Khanate, the only remaining successor to the
Golden Horde, continued to raid Southern Russia.
[52] In effort to restore the Volga khanates, Crimeans and their
Ottoman allies
invaded central Russiaburn down parts of Moscow in 1571.
[53] But next year the large invading army was thoroughly defeated by Russians in the
Battle of Molodi, forever eliminating the threat of the Ottoman-Crimean expansion into Russia. The raids of Crimeans, however, didn't cease until the late 17th century, though the construction of new fortification lines across Southern Russia, such as the
Great Abatis Line, constantly narrowed the area accessible to incursions. and were even able to
The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient
Rurik Dynasty in 1598, and in combination with the
famine of 1601–03[54] led to the civil war, the rule of pretenders and foreign intervention during the
Time of Troubles in the early 17th century.
[55] Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied parts of Russia, including Moscow. In 1612 the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps, led by two national heroes, merchant
Kuzma Minin and Prince
Dmitry Pozharsky. The
Romanov Dynasty acceded the throne in 1613 by the decision of
Zemsky Sobor, and the country started its gradual recovery from the crisis.
Russia continued its territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age of
Cossacks. Cossacks were warriors organized into military communities, resembling
pirates and
pioneers of the New World. In 1648, the peasants of
Ukraine joined the
Zaporozhian Cossacks in rebellion against Poland-Lithuania during the
Khmelnytsky Uprising, because of the social and religious oppression they suffered under Polish rule. In 1654 the Ukrainian leader,
Bohdan Khmelnytsky, offered to place Ukraine under the protection of the Russian Tsar,
Aleksey I. Aleksey's acceptance of this offer led to another
Russo-Polish War (1654–1667). Finally, Ukraine was split along the
Dnieper River, leaving the western part (or
Right-bank Ukraine) under Polish rule and eastern part (
Left-bank Ukraine and
Kiev) under Russian. Later, in 1670–71 the
Don Cossacks led by
Stenka Razin initiated a major uprising in the
Volga region, but the Tsar's troops were successful in defeating the rebels.
In the east, the rapid Russian exploration and colonisation of the huge territories of Siberia was led mostly by Cossacks hunting for valuable
furs and
ivory.
Russian explorers pushed eastward primarily along the
Siberian River Routes, and by the mid-17th century there were Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia, on the
Chukchi Peninsula, along the
Amur River, and on the Pacific coast. In 1648 the
Bering Strait between Asia and North America was passed for the first time by
Fedot Popov and
Semyon Dezhnyov.
Imperial Russia
Main article:
Russian EmpireUnder
Peter the Great, Russia was proclaimed an Empire in 1721 and became recognized as a world power. Ruling from 1682 to 1725, Peter defeated Sweden in the
Great Northern War, forcing it to cede West
Karelia and
Ingria (two regions lost by Russia in the
Time of Troubles),
[56] as well as
Estland and
Livland, securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade.
[57] On the
Baltic Sea Peter founded a new capital called
Saint Petersburg, later known as Russia's
Window to Europe.
Peter the Great's reforms brought considerable Western European cultural influences to Russia.
The reign of Peter I's daughter
Elisabeth in 1741–62 saw Russia's participation in the
Seven Years WarEastern Prussia for a while and even took Berlin. However, upon Elisabeth's death, all these conquests were returned to
Kingdom of Prussia by pro-Prussian
Peter III of Russia. (1756–63). During this conflict Russia annexed
Catherine II (
the Great), who ruled in 1762–96, presided over the Age of
Russian Enlightenment. She extended Russian political control over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and incorporated most of its territories into Russia during the
Partitions of Poland, pushing the Russian frontier westward into Central Europe. In the south, after successful
Russo-Turkish Wars against the
Ottoman Empire, Catherine advanced Russia's boundary to the Black Sea, defeating the
Crimean Khanate. As a result of victories over the Ottomans, by the early 19th century Russia also made significant territorial gains in
Transcaucasia. This continued with
Alexander I's (1801–25) wresting of
Finland from the weakened kingdom of Sweden in 1809 and of
Bessarabia from the Ottomans in 1812. At the same time Russians
colonized Alaska and even founded settlements in California, like
Fort Ross.
In 1803–06 the
first Russian circumnavigation was made, later followed by other notable Russian sea exploration voyages. In 1820
a Russian expedition discovered the continent of
Antarctica.
In alliances with various European countries, Russia fought against
Napoleon's France. The
French invasion of Russia at the height of Napoleon's power in 1812 failed miserably as the obstinate resistance in combination with the bitterly cold
Russian winter led to a disastrous defeat of invaders, in which more than 95% of the pan-European
Grande Armée perished.
[58] Led by
Mikhail Kutuzov and
Barclay de Tolly, the Russian army ousted Napoleon from the country and drove through Europe in the
war of the Sixth Coalition, finally entering
Paris. Alexander I headed Russia's delegation at the
Congress of Vienna that defined the map of post-Napoleonic Europe.
The officers of the
Napoleonic Wars brought ideas of liberalism back to Russia with them and attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive
Decembrist revolt of 1825. At the end of the conservative reign of
Nicolas I (1825–55) a zenith period of Russia's power and influence in Europe was disrupted by defeat in the
Crimean War. Between 1847 and 1851 a massive wave of Asiatic
cholera swept over Russia, claiming about one million lives.
[59]
Nicholas's successor
Alexander II (1855–81) enacted significant changes in the country, including the
emancipation reform of 1861. These
Great Reforms spurred
industrialization and modernized the Russian army, which had successfully liberated
Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in
1877–78 Russo-Turkish War.
The late 19th century saw the rise of various socialist movements in Russia. Alexander II was killed in 1881 by revolutionary terrorists, and the reign of his son
Alexander III (1881–94) was less liberal but more peaceful. The last Russian Emperor,
Nicholas II (1894–1917), was unable to prevent the events of the
Russian Revolution of 1905, triggered by the unsuccessful
Russo-Japanese War and the demonstration incident known as
Bloody Sunday. The uprising was put down, but the government was forced to concede major reforms, including granting the
freedoms of speech and
assembly, the legalization of political parties, and the creation of an elected legislative body, the
State Duma of the Russian Empire. Migration to
Siberiaagrarian reform. Between 1906 and 1914 more than four million settlers arrived in that region.
[60] increased rapidly in the early 20th century, particularly during the Stolypin
In 1914 Russia entered
World War I in response to Austria's declaration of war on Russia's ally
Serbia, and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its
Triple Entente allies. In 1916 the
Brusilov Offensive of the Russian Army almost completely destroyed the military of
Austria-Hungary. However, the already-existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war,
high casualties, and rumors of corruption and treason. All this formed the climate for the
Russian Revolution of 1917, carried out in two major acts.
The
February Revolution forced Nicholas II to abdicate; he and his family were imprisoned and
later executed during the
Russian Civil War. The monarchy was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared itself the
Provisional Government. An alternative socialist establishment existed alongside, the
Petrograd Soviet, wielding power through the democratically elected councils of workers and peasants, called
Soviets. The rule of the new authorities only aggravated the crisis in the country, instead of resolving it. Eventually, the
October Revolution, led by
Bolshevik leader
Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government and created the world’s first
socialist state.
Soviet Russia
Following the October Revolution, a civil war broke out between the
anti-communist White movement and the new regime with its
Red Army. Russia lost its Ukrainian, Polish, Baltic, and Finnish territories by signing the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that concluded hostilities with the
Central Powers in World War I. The
Allied powers launched an unsuccessful
military intervention in support of anti-Communist forces, while both the Bolsheviks and White movement carried out campaigns of deportations and executions against each other, known respectively as the
Red Terror and
White Terror. By the end of the civil war the Russian economy and infrastructure were heavily damaged. Millions became
White émigrés,
[61] and the
Povolzhye famine claimed up to 5 million victims.
[62]
The
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (called
Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic at the time) together with three other Soviet republics
formed the Soviet Union, or USSR, on 30 December 1922. Out of the 15
republics of the USSR, the Russian SFSR was the largest in terms of size, and making up over half of the total USSR population, dominated the union for its entire 69-year history.
Following Lenin's death in 1924,
Joseph Stalin, an elected
General Secretary of the Communist Party, managed to put down all opposition groups within the party and consolidate much power in his hands.
Leon Trotsky, the main proponent of the
world revolution, was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929, and Stalin's idea of
socialism in one country became the primary line. The continued internal struggle in the
Bolshevik partyGreat Purge, a period of mass repressions in 1937–38, in which hundreds of thousands of people were executed, including military leaders convicted in
coup d'état plots.
[63] culminated in the
The government launched a
planned economy,
industrialisation of the largely rural country, and
collectivizationpenal labor camps,
[64] including many political convicts, and millions were
deported and exiled to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
[64] The transitional disorganisation of the country's agriculture, combined with the harsh state policies and a drought, led to the
famine of 1932–33.
[65] However, though with a heavy price, the Soviet Union was transformed from a largely agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in a short span of time. of its agriculture. During this period of rapid economical and social changes, millions of people were sent to
The
Appeasement policy of Great Britain and France towards
Adolf Hitler's annexations of
Ruhr, Austria and finally of
Czechoslovakia enlarged the might of
Nazi Germany and put a threat of war to the Soviet Union. Around the same time the
German Reich allied with the
Empire of Japan, a rival of the USSR in the
Far EastSoviet–Japanese Border Wars in 1938–39. and an open enemy in the
In August 1939, after another failure of attempts to establish a counter-Nazism alliance with Britain and France, the Soviet government agreed to conclude the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, pledging non-aggression between the two countries and dividing their spheres of influence in
Eastern Europe. While Hitler conquered Poland, France and other countries acting on single front at the start of the
World War II, the USSR was able to build up its military and regain some of the former territories of the
Russian EmpireSoviet invasion of Poland and the
Winter War. during the
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany broke the non-aggression treaty and invaded the Soviet Union with the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history,
[66] opening the
largest theater of the Second World War. Although the
German army had considerable success early on, their onslaught was halted in the
Battle of Moscow. Subsequently the Germans were dealt major defeats first at the
Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–43,
[67] and then in the
Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. Another German failure was the
Siege of Leningrad, in which the city was fully blockaded on land between 1941–44 by German and Finnish forces, suffering starvation and more than a million deaths, but never surrendering.
[68] Under Stalin's administration and the leadership of such commanders as
Georgy Zhukov and
Konstantin Rokossovsky, Soviet forces drove through
Eastern Europe in 1944–45 and
captured Berlin in May 1945. In August 1945 the Soviet Army
ousted Japanese from China's
Manchukuo and
North Korea, contributing to the allied victory over Japan.
The 1941–45 period of World War II is known in Russia as the
Great Patriotic War. In this conflict, which included many of the
most lethal battle operations in human history, Soviet military and civilian deaths were 10.6 million and 15.9 million respectively,
[69] accounting for about a third of all
World War II casualties. The full demographic loss to the Soviet peoples was even greater.
[70] The Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation
[71] but the Soviet Union emerged as an acknowledged
superpower.
The
Red Army occupied
Eastern Europe after the war, including
East Germany. Dependent socialist governments were installed in the
Eastern bloc satellite states. Becoming the world's second
nuclear weapons power, the USSR established the
Warsaw Pact alliance and entered into a struggle for global dominance, known as the
Cold War, with the United States and
NATO. The Soviet Union exported its
Communist ideology to newly formed
People's Republic of China and
North Korea, and later into
Cuba and many other countries. Significant amounts of the Soviet resources were
allocated in aid to the other socialist states.
[72]
After Stalin's death and a short period of
collective rule, new leader
Nikita Khrushchev denounced the
cult of personality of Stalin and launched the policy of
de-Stalinization. Penal labor system was reformed and many prisoners were released and rehabilitated (many of them posthumously).
[73] The general easement of repressive policies became known later as the
Khrushchev thaw. At the same time, tensions with the United States heightened when the two rivals clashed over the deployment of the U.S.
Jupiter missiles in
Turkey and Soviet
missiles in Cuba.
In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial
satellite,
Sputnik 1, thus starting the
Space Age. Russian
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the
Earth aboard
Vostok 1 manned spacecraft on
12 April 1961.
Following the ousting of voluntarist and erratic Khrushchev in 1964, another period of
collective rule ensued, until
Leonid Brezhnev became the leader. The era of 1970s and the early 1980s was designated later as the
Era of Stagnation, a period when the economic growth slowed and social policies became static. The
Kosygin reform, aimed into partial
decentralization of the
Soviet economy and shifting the emphasis from
heavy industry and weapons to
light industry and
consumer goods, was stifled by the conservative Communist leadership.
In 1979 the Soviet forces entered
Afghanistan at the request of its communist government. The occupation drained economic resources and dragged on without achieving meaningful political results. Ultimately the
Soviet Army was withdrawn from Afghanistan in 1989 because of international opposition, persistent anti-Soviet guerilla warfare (enhanced by the U.S.), and a lack of support from Soviet citizens.
From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the policies of
glasnostperestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize the country and make it more
democratic. However, this led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements. Prior to 1991, the
Soviet economy was the second largest in the world,
[74] but during its last years it was afflicted by shortages of goods in grocery stores, huge budget deficits, and explosive growth in money supply leading to inflation.
[75] (openness) and
In August 1991,
a coup d'état attempt by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of socialist rule. The USSR
was dissolvedpost-Soviet states in December 1991. into 15
Russian Federation
Boris Yeltsin was elected the
President of Russia in June 1991, in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. During and after the Soviet disintegration, wide-ranging reforms including
privatisation and
market and
trade liberalization were being undertaken,
[76] including the radical changes along the lines of "
shock therapy" as recommended by the United States and
International Monetary Fund.
[77] All this resulted in a major economy crisis, characterized by 50% decline of both
GDP and industrial output between 1990–95.
[76][78]
The privatization largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government system. Many of the newly rich businesspeople took billions in cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous
capital flight.
[79] The depression of state and economy led to the collapse of social services; the
birth rate plummeted while the
death rate skyrocketed. Millions plunged into poverty, from 1.5% level of poverty in the late Soviet era, to 39–49% by mid-1993.
[80] The 1990s saw extreme corruption and lawlessness, rise of criminal gangs and violent crime.
[81]
The 1990s were plagued by armed conflicts in the
Northern Caucasus, both local ethnic skirmishes and separatist
Islamist insurrections. Since the
Chechen separatists had declared independence in the early 1990s, an
intermittent guerrilla war was fought between the rebel groups and the Russian military. Terrorist attacks against civilians carried out by separatists, most notably the
Moscow theater hostage crisis and
Beslan school siege, caused hundreds of deaths and drew worldwide attention.
Russia took up the responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, even though its population made up just half of the population of the USSR at the time of its dissolution.
[82] High budget deficits caused the
1998 Russian financial crisis[83] and resulted in further GDP decline.
[76]
On 31 December 1999 President Yeltsin resigned, handing the post to the recently appointed Prime Minister,
Vladimir Putin, who then won
the 2000 presidential election. Putin
suppressed the Chechen insurgency, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the Northern Caucasus. High oil prices and initially weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years, improving the standard of living and increasing Russia's influence on the world stage.
[84] While many reforms made during the Putin presidency have been generally criticized by Western nations as un-democratic,
[85] Putin's leadership over the return of order, stability, and progress has won him widespread popularity in Russia.
[86]
On 2 March 2008,
Dmitry Medvedev was elected
President of Russia, whilst Putin became
Prime Minister.
Politics
According to the
Constitution of Russia, the country is a
federation and
semi-presidential republic, wherein the President is the
head of state[87] and the
Prime Minister is the
head of government. The Russian Federation is fundamentally structured as a
multi-party representative democracy, with the federal government composed of three branches:
- Legislative: The bicameral Federal Assembly, made up of the 450-member State Duma and the 166-member Federation Council, adopts federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse and the power of impeachment of the President.
- Executive: The President is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
- Judiciary: The Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of Arbitration and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the President, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.
The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term (eligible for a second term, but not for a third consecutive term).
[88] Ministries of the government are composed of the Premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; all are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (whereas the appointment of the latter requires the consent of the State Duma). Leading political parties in Russia include
United Russia, the
Communist Party, the
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, and
Fair Russia.
Western observers have raised questions as to how much of Russia's political system corresponds to Western liberal democratic ideals. Academics have often complained about the difficulty of classifying Russia's political system. According Steve White, during the Putin presidency Russia made clear that it had no intention of establishing a "second edition" of the American or British political system, but rather a system that was closer to Russia's own traditions and circumstances.
[89] Richard Sakwa wrote that the Russian government is undoubtedly considered legitimate by the great majority of the Russian people and seeks to deliver a set of public goods without appealing to extra-democratic logic to achieve them, but whether the system was becoming an illiberal or delegative democracy was more contentious.
[90]
Foreign relations
The Russian Federation is recognized in international law as
successor state of the former
Soviet Union.
[22]UN Security Council, membership in other international organisations, the rights and obligations under international treaties, and property and debts. Russia has a multifaceted foreign policy. As of 2009, it maintains diplomatic relations with 191 countries and has
144 embassies. The foreign policy is determined by the President and implemented by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
[91] Russia continues to implement the international commitments of the USSR, and has assumed the USSR's permanent seat in the
As the successor to a former superpower, Russia's geopolitical status has been often debated, particularly in relation to
unipolar and multipolar views on the global political system. While Russia is commonly accepted to be a
great power, in recent years it has been characterized by a number of world leaders,
[92][93] scholars,
[94][95] as a currently reinstating or
potential superpower.
[96][97][98] commentators and politicians
An important aspect of Russia's relations with
the West is the criticism of Russia's political system and human rights management by the Western governments, the mass media and the leading democracy and human rights watchdogs. In particular, such organisations as the
Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch consider Russia to have not enough democratic attributes and to allow few political rights and civil liberties to its citizens.
[99][100] Freedom House, an international organisation funded by the
United States, ranks Russia as "not free", citing "carefully engineered elections" and "absence" of debate.
[101] Russian authorities dismiss these claims and especially criticise Freedom House. The
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called the 2006
Freedom in the World report "prefabricated", stating that the human rights issues have been turned into a political weapon in particular by the United States. The ministry also claims that such organisations as Freedom House and Human Rights Watch use the same scheme of voluntary extrapolation of
"isolated facts that of course can be found in any country" into
"dominant tendencies".
[102]
As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia plays a major role in maintaining international peace and security. The country participates in the
Quartet on the Middle East and the
Six-party talks with
North Korea. Russia is a member of the
Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, the
Council of Europe,
OSCE and
APEC. Russia usually takes a leading role in regional organisations such as the
CIS,
EurAsEC,
CSTO, and the
SCO.
[103] Former President Vladimir Putin had advocated a strategic partnership with close integration in various dimensions including establishment of
EU-Russia Common Spaces.
[104] Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has developed a friendlier, albeit volatile
relationship with
NATO. The
NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002 to allow the 26 Allies and Russia to work together as equal partners to pursue opportunities for joint collaboration.
[105]
Russia maintains strong and positive relations with other
BRIC countries. In recent years, the country has sought to strengthen ties especially with the
People's Republic of China by signing the
Treaty of Friendship as well as building the
Trans-Siberian oil pipeline geared toward growing Chinese energy needs.
[106]
Military
The Russian military is divided into the
Ground Forces,
Navy, and
Air Force. There are also three independent arms of service:
Strategic Rocket Forces,
Military Space Forces, and the
Airborne Troops. In 2006, the military had 1.037 million personnel on active duty.
[107] It is mandatory for all male citizens aged 18–27 to be
drafted for a year of service in Armed Forces.
[84]
Russia has
the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. It has the second largest fleet of
ballistic missile submarines and is the only country apart from the U.S. with a modern
strategic bomber force.
[23][108]tank force is the largest in the world, its surface navy and air force are among the largest ones. Russia's
The country has a large and fully indigenous
arms industry, producing most of its own military equipment with only few types of weapons imported. Russia is the world's top supplier of arms, a spot it has held since 2001, accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales
[109] and exporting weapons to about 80 countries.
[110]
Official government military spending for 2008 was $58 billion, the
fifth largest in the world, though various sources have estimated Russia’s military expenditures to be considerably higher.
[107][111] Currently, a major equipment upgrade worth about $200 billion is on its way between 2006 and 2015.
[112]
Political divisions
- Federal subjects
The Russian Federation comprises 83
federal subjects.
[113] These subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the
Federation Council.
[114] However, they differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy.
- 46 oblasts (provinces): most common type of federal subjects, with federally appointed governor and locally elected legislature.
- 21 republics: nominally autonomous; each has its own constitution, president or a similar post, and parliament. Republics are allowed to establish their own official language alongside Russian but are represented by the federal government in international affairs. Republics are meant to be home to specific ethnic minorities.
- 9 krais (territories): essentially the same as oblasts. The "territory" designation is historic, originally given to frontier regions and later also to the administrative divisions that comprised autonomous okrugs or autonomous oblasts.
- 4 autonomous okrugs (autonomous districts): originally autonomous entities within oblasts and krais created for ethnic minorities, their status was elevated to that of federal subjects in the 1990s. With the exception of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, all autonomous okrugs are still administratively subordinated to a krai or an oblast of which they are a part.
- 1 autonomous oblast (the Jewish Autonomous Oblast): historically, autonomous oblasts were administrative units subordinated to krais. In 1990, all of them except for the Jewish AO were elevated in status to that of a republic.
- 2 federal cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg): major cities that function as separate regions.
- Federal districts
Federal subjects are grouped into eight
federal districts, each administered by an envoy appointed by the President of Russia.
[115] Unlike the federal subjects, the federal districts are not a subnational level of government, but are a level of administration of the federal government. Federal districts' envoys serve as liaisons between the federal subjects and the federal government and are primarily responsible for overseeing the compliance of the federal subjects with the federal laws.
Geography
Russia is the
largest country in the world; its total area is 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi). There are 23 UNESCO
World Heritage Sites in Russia, 40 UNESCO
biosphere reserves,
[116] 40
national parks and 101
nature reserves. It lies between latitudes
41° and
82° N, and longitudes
19° E and
169° W.
Russia has a wide natural resource base, including major deposits of
timber, petroleum,
natural gas, coal, ores and other mineral resources.
Topography
The two widest separated points in Russia are about 8,000 km (4,971 mi) apart along a
geodesic line. These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60 km (37 mi) long
Vistula Spit separating the
Gdańsk Bay from the
Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the
Kuril Islands. The points which are furthest separated in
longitude are 6,600 km (4,101 mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: in the west, the same spit; in the east, the
Big Diomede Island. The Russian Federation spans 9
time zones.
Most of Russia consists of vast stretches of plains that are predominantly
steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with
tundra along the northern coast. Russia possesses 10% of the world's
arable land.
[117] Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the
Caucasus (containing
Mount Elbrus, which at 5,642 m (18,510 ft) is the highest point in both Russia and Europe) and the
Altai (containing
Mount Belukha, which at the 4,506 m (14,783 ft) is the highest point of
Siberia outside of the
Russian Far East); and in the eastern parts, such as the
Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes of
Kamchatka PeninsulaKlyuchevskaya Sopka, which at the 4,750 m (15,584 ft) is the highest
active volcano in Eurasia as well as the highest point of
Asian Russia). The
Ural Mountains, rich in mineral resources, form a north-south range that divides Europe and Asia. (containing
Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km (22,991 mi) along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as along the
Baltic Sea,
Sea of Azov,
Black Sea and
Caspian Sea.
[84] The
Barents Sea,
White Sea,
Kara Sea,
Laptev Sea,
East Siberian Sea,
Chukchi Sea,
Bering Sea,
Sea of Okhotsk, and the
Sea of Japan are linked to Russia via the Arctic and Pacific. Russia's major islands and archipelagos include
Novaya Zemlya, the
Franz Josef Land, the
Severnaya Zemlya, the
New Siberian Islands,
Wrangel Island, the
Kuril Islands, and
Sakhalin. The
Diomede Islands (one controlled by Russia, the other by the U.S.) are just 3 km (1.9 mi) apart, and
Kunashir Island is about 20 km (12.4 mi) from
Hokkaidō, Japan.
Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water providing it with one of the world's largest
surface water resources. The largest and most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is
Lake Baikal, the world's deepest, purest, oldest and most capacious fresh water lake.
[118] Baikal alone contains over one fifth of the world's fresh surface water.
[13] Other major lakes include
Ladoga and
Onega, two of the
largest lakes in Europe. Russia is second only to Brazil in volume of the
total renewable water resources. Of the country's 100,000 rivers,
[119] the
Volga is the most famous, not only because it is the
longest river in Europe, but also because of its major role in Russian history.
[84] The Siberian rivers
Ob,
Yenisey,
Lena and
Amur are among the very
longest rivers in the world.
Climate
The enormous size of Russia and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of the
humid continental climate, which is prevalent in all parts of the country except for the tundra and the extreme southeast. Mountains in the south obstruct the flow of warm air masses from the
Indian Ocean, while the plain of the west and north makes the country open to Arctic and Atlantic influences.
[120]
Most of Northern European Russia and
Siberia has a
subarctic climate, with extremely severe winters in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia (mostly the
Sakha Republic, where the Northern
Pole of Cold is located with the record low temperature of −71.2 °C/−96.2 °F), and more moderate elsewhere. The strip of land along the shore of the Arctic Ocean, as well as the
Russian Arctic islands, have a
polar climate.
The coastal part of
Krasnodar Krai on the Black Sea, most notably in
Sochi, possesses a
humid subtropical climate with mild and wet winters. Winter is dry compared to summer in many regions of East Siberia and the Far East, while other parts of the country experience more even precipitation across seasons. Winter precipitation in most parts of the country usually falls as
snow. The region along the Lower
Volga and Caspian Sea coast, as well as some areas of southernmost Siberia, possesses a
semi-arid climate.
